Why does my mother say I can't give my son semi skimmed milk.?

[colditz]

He is 2.5 by the way. He eats a good diet, is not underweight, and drinks about a pint and a half of milk a day.

So why, when I told my mum did she wail "But they need the fat at that age!"

And why did one of my friends rather smugly claim "We buy both, after all it's so important!" (Yes, but your child isn't 2 yet......)

I always thought the guidelines were full fat til 2, then semi til 5 if you want, then whatever. Why am I being treated like semi skimmed milk is coke?

I tend to give my dd2 a mixture, mainly cos I like the taste of full fat milk better and I suppose it's just habit. I agree that I thought it was fine to give semi-skimmed after 2 as well, after all it has the same calcium levels as full fat doesn't it?

The Food Standards Agency say it's fine - see here ....
I'd been wondering myself, and had done a bit of reading. HTH

My ds has been having semi skimmed milk since he was 18m old on the advice of the GP due to chronic constipation. He said it's absolutely fine as long as they are having a balanced diet and enough calories.

Ds2 has had semi-skimmed since he was 2.1. Ds1 was 2.7 but only because I kept buying FF out of habit. SS has all the calcium of FF milk, and once they're past 2 they don't need FF milk as they can get enough fat from other sources such as cheese etc.

IT used to be advised to give fullfat till asge 5.

My ds has semi-skimmed and has done since he was two. he is as chubby as you like!

I think it might be because of a story from about fifteen years ago about a group of middle-class well cared-for children who were found to be malnourished. It turned out that their parents were giving them no fat at all - skimmed milk, St Ivel old, low fat and low calorie foods and drinks generally. It was a late-eighties "the lower the fat and calories the better" thing.

So not relevant at all for a toddler with a healthy diet, as I'm sure yours is.

I think it was advised when I was little, but my mother was bizarre, she kept me on SMA for 3 years!

St Ivel Gold

I think it's just because it's a quick and easy form of calories and if you cut it out, you automatically lose a good nutritional calorie source. However, that doesn't matter if your DS is getting his calories elsewhere.

Semi skimmed is supposed to have more calcium in it, I think.

mine are all on full fat (7, 5 and 2). I think the fats are good for them - but I have three incredibly lean children that I think need all extra calories that they can get...
if we run out of full fat and only have skimmed, I usually chuck in a dash of double cream to their glasses!

harhar, but so are chips and biscuits

She would spoon feed him lard if I would let her, she is really odd sometimes. She always comments how thin he is, and he really is not thin. He's nicely rounded. Makes me wonder how much off my alledged eating difficulties as a child were real, and how much was her being a weirdy.

Well, they do need fat for their growing brains. I had the impression that full fat was "fine" until 5yo, too, and it is a dense source of calories.

Apparently my nephew was put on semi at 12 months, with the blessing of his pediatrician (this is in the USA). Parents are convinced that a low-fat diet early in life (he is now 3) will lower their son's life-long risk of heart disease. I really don't feel comfortable about this theory...

Full fat is fine whatever age IMO, but I don't like it. And I don't think it makes any difference once they are 2. The fat from cheese is the same as the fat in whole milk.

I don't feed him anything even close to a low fat diet by the way.

Milk allergies and anemia are much less common after a child's first birthday, and many parents switch their child to fresh cow's milk without difficulty. Generally, after age 1, your child should be drinking between 16 and 24 ounces of milk a day (that's about 2 to 4 glasses) and getting a lot of calcium, iron and protein from solid foods. Most children drink whole milk until age 2, and then begin to switch to low-fat milk. Do not try to switch your child to low-fat milk before the age of 2: a baby's growing body needs the fats in whole milk for proper development. It's best to make all of these decisions with your child's pediatrician at your child's one-year visit. hth...

Um, don't know if you're American MN, but here children don't see a peadiatrician unless they are ill, and we see Health Visitor, and usually the Health Visitors are underinformed or disinterested in middleclass woes.